Lawmakers Face Year of Uncertainty : Legislature: Attention will be focused on fiscal limits, reapportionment and a corruption inquiry when the new session convenes Jan. 7.

As they head back to the capital for the 1991 legislative session, San Fernando Valley-area lawmakers are poised for a year of fiscal and political uncertainty.

At the top of the agenda for the lawmakers and for Gov.-elect Pete Wilson is tackling an expected budget shortfall, which some legislators estimate could reach beyond $6 billion in the upcoming year.

When the Legislature reconvenes on Jan. 7, attention also will be focused on staff cutbacks prompted by the passage in November of Proposition 140, a sweeping term limit initiative that slashed the operating budgets for legislators. The Legislature also faces the highly partisan, once-a-decade redrawing of legislative district lines.

Meantime, two area lawmakers--Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana) and Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale)--remain targets in a lengthy federal grand jury political corruption investigation.

Citing the long list of problems and potential disputes facing the Legislature, Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale) declared: “You’ve got all the makings of a horrendous year.”

Wilson and his transition team have been working behind closed doors for weeks to come up with a state spending plan, scheduled to be unveiled Jan. 10. But many say balancing the budget will require across-the-board spending cuts or finding new sources of money.

“I think the biggest thing we have to face is setting priorities on the available dollars and maybe even abolishing some special-interest loopholes,” Davis said. “Anyone dreaming of getting any additional money for anything in the next couple of years is just going to be dreaming.”

Russell, whose district includes Lancaster and Palmdale, said the federal corruption probe only adds to the institutional anxiety because “it’s another black eye that the Legislature will have.” The investigation has already led to the conviction of one state senator and a member of the State Board of Equalization.

Nolan, whose office was one of four raided by the FBI in August, 1988, when the federal probe came to light, said he is uncertain when the federal investigation will be concluded but maintained, “I have absolute confidence I will be exonerated.”

Robbins, whose San Fernando Valley residence was searched in November by the FBI, said suggestions that he has done anything wrong are unfounded. Robbins said his effectiveness would not be harmed by the ongoing probe. But he acknowledged that “it just means I have to work a little harder. But hard work has never scared me.”

In interviews, lawmakers said they plan to address a mix of state and local issues--from widening the Simi Valley Freeway and pressing for high-speed train service to helping the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy purchase open space and pumping money into programs such as mental health and education.

On the local front, Robbins said his top priority is to ensure that reapportionment will result in as many legislative and congressional districts as possible being based in the San Fernando Valley. He maintained that his home turf has been “shortchanged” on previous occasions when new legislative districts were drawn to reflect population changes.

Said Robbins: “What we usually wind up with are political districts that have their political base or center in West Los Angeles or in Glendale or in Ventura County and then there is a finger or shred running into the San Fernando Valley.” The effect, lawmakers said, has been to weaken the political clout of the Valley.

Other lawmakers cautioned that it is too soon to speculate how the lines will be redrawn to accommodate growth areas such as the Antelope Valley.

For example, Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita), whose district ranges into Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, said he anticipates losing some areas but is uncertain how the lines will be reconfigured and which areas will be taken from him.

Another problem cited by Davis is a provision in Proposition 140, the term limit initiative, which slashes the Legislature’s operating budget by as much as half. Davis said the proposition could force him to fire at least one of his 11 staff members. Anticipating less office help, Davis said he plans to introduce only 20 bills each year in the upcoming two-year session. In contrast, he introduced 99 measures in the last session.

Rookie Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Northridge), who was elected to succeed retiring Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette, said the six-year limit on Assembly terms imposed by Proposition 140 means that she has “to move that much quicker than anticipated” to press for her priorities.

Boland said her top priority is to have “some teeth put into our law-and-order legislation.” In particular, she wants to push for laws that would toughen penalties for anyone convicted of selling drugs within 500 feet of a school.

Davis, too, plans to work for anti-crime measures. High on his wish list for the new year is repealing a law that allows counties to charge cities a fee for booking people into jails. “That’s a real disincentive to arresting anyone,” said Davis, a former Los Angeles police chief.

Nolan, too, emphasized anti-crime legislation. He said he is exploring proposals to give police the ability to confiscate a gun at the scene of a family dispute “to cool down a domestic violence situation.”

Education-related issues are also at the top of Nolan’s priority list. He said he will continue to seek reforms to ensure that suburban schools “get a fair share” of money budgeted for education.

As chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) expects to play a role in guarding against cuts in education funding, said Joe Caves, his legislative assistant. Hart’s district includes Woodland Hills.

On another education front, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) said he wants to obtain additional funds to complete work at Mission College in the San Fernando Valley.

Katz, chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, said he hopes to bring together public and private interests to discuss proposals for a privately financed high-speed rail line from Palmdale to Los Angeles International Airport. A publicly funded spur would connect Warner Center and North Hollywood.

Katz described the magnetic levitation technology for the line as “clean, quiet and non-polluting.” He said the line would be much less expensive to build in the Valley than an underground Metro Rail. Many residents in the Valley have expressed opposition to above-ground transportation lines, however.

In another transportation issue, Hart hopes to revive a proposal vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian to provide a tax incentive for those who purchase cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars, Caves said.

Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) said she plans to fight to obtain mental health funds, especially for children. “Money we invest in mental health for our children . . . will make them stable, worthwhile citizens,” Wright said.

Russell said he, too, hopes to stress family issues, including ways to handle the problem of drug-addicted babies.

Among other things, he said: “There is a need for a database, to determine how many babies are being affected.”